A Minister Most at Home in the Pulpit

For the Rev. Thomas Herbert Caulkins, now approaching his 96th birthday, home is the pulpit whether in Branchville Baptist Church — where he served his first pastorate — or Murfreesboro Baptist — where he served his last.

A third generation ordained minister, he was born June 27, 1928, and grew up in northern Virginia where his father served as one of the first Civilian Conservation Corps chaplains. He was ordained 70 years ago, a time he reflects on fondly.

After his undergraduate studies at the University of Richmond, he completed a master’s of social work at Richmond Professional Institute, a division of the College of William and Mary, and worked for two years with the Travelers’ Aid Society before answering the call to church ministry.

That call led him to seminary study at Crozer Seminary, an American Baptist Seminary located in Upland, Penn. Caulkins describes the school as one with a liberal tradition and small; small enough that at the time of his ordination on May 19, 1954, at Brookmont Baptist Church in Bethesda, Md., all the faculty traveled to be present for the occasion.

His father, Charles Whitney Caulkins, and grandfather, Herbert Lincoln Caulkins, were also present.

When Caulkins was preparing to attend Crozer in 1951, he received a letter from the president of the student body welcoming him. That student body president was Martin Luther King Jr.

Although that letter is lost to the ages, the memory of it and his recollections of the faculty there and their contributions to his life and ministry are vivid. He particularly remembers Dr. Sankey Blanton, president of Crozer from 1950-62. From him, Caulkins took a class in church administration, but he best remembers Blanton for his weekly sermons.

Caulkins’ first church was in Branchville, Va., in peanut country (1954-58); then, he served a church in Clover, Va., in tobacco country (1958-63) before coming to North Carolina, specifically Madison Avenue Baptist Church in Goldsboro in 1963.

In 1968, he was approached by the pulpit search committee of Murfreesboro Baptist Church. That committee consisted of community members such as George Gibbs and Charles Revelle Jr. and Chowan College administrators such as Ben Sutton and Bruce Whitaker.

As one always drawn to small towns, Caulkins found the idea of a small town with an academic community quite compelling.

Describing the church as local-mission oriented, he notes especially the Women’s Missionary Union and its work, the wonderful music ministry that included a handbell choir and eventually a carillon.

He also talks of the connection between the church and Chowan College (now Chowan University), remembering the many faculty and staff who were part of the congregation and the students who attended worship services there.

One of those students was Bob Ballance, now the Rev. Dr. Bob Ballance, currently pastor of First Baptist Church of Gretna, Va. When a Chowan College student, Ballance also worked at Murfreesboro Baptist, focusing primarily on the youth.

Remembering his time there (1981-83), Ballance says was he was profoundly influenced by Caulkins, stating that although he only worked with Caulkins for two years, Caulkins became his mentor for life, saying he learned “the art of sermon preparation, worship leadership, church administration and pastoral care.”

Ballance says that he learned from Caulkins by word and even more by example, actually observing “how he approached and handled many differing kinds of situations.”

Ballance remembers that time fondly.

“I got to be nearby when people complimented his work, but I also was present on several occasions when the criticism came,” Ballance said. “He was gifted at providing a presence of even-tempered responses to all kinds of situations. He encouraged me, but he also knew how to call attention to areas of my personality and presence that needed some attention and polish. He did that part with tact and grace, and that has served me well.”

As Caulkins speaks of Murfreesboro Baptist Church, he speaks of the people who formed the congregation during his time there, among them eight ordained ministers, the previous pastor, 16 seminary graduates, 15 doctors — of philosophy, medicine, education, optometry and jurisprudence — 40 past and present college professors, a college president and a host of teachers, lawyers, physicians, nurses, accountants, businessmen, musicians, bankers, engineers and scientists, a mixed congregation of persons from both Baptist and other traditions.

A pastor is often called upon to play many roles, and Caulkins was ideally suited to all, but for those persons privileged to hear him preach Sunday after Sunday, his role as preacher was paramount.

During the 25 years he served Murfreesboro Baptist Church, every sermon he preached was heard and examined by Biblical scholars, grammarians and speech teachers alike, and, as Chowan College President Bruce Whitaker once said, “Tom’s sermons were always consistent, consistently good.”

Having come to Murfreesboro because the idea of an academic congregation appealed to him, Caulkins appealed to that academic congregation week in and week out. Still, he was not without a sense of humor.

He is reputed to have told Cecil Holloman of Powellsville Baptist Church on a Sunday morning in January 2012, when he suffered a heart attack and had to say he would not be in the pulpit that day, that if a preacher were going to have a heart attack, it was best to have it on a Sunday, so he didn’t have to preach.

To sum up his own theology, he quotes his father as saying: “I’m a Christian by faith, Baptist by denomination and Southern Baptist by geography.” He has been at home in the pulpit for the better part of seven decades.

In 1949, he married Ann Baird, whom he met when she was a student at Westhampton College, a division of the University of Richmond. As he was home in the pulpit, so she was at home in the second pew, never missing a word he uttered in front of the congregations he led.

Ballance recalls Ann’s own ministry, both from the second pew and from her dining room table, fondly remembering meals at which she offered encouragement and support.

The Caulkins are the parents of two children, Charlene Eason, a retired nurse, and Bonnie Revelle, a retired pediatrician; they are grandparents to four grandchildren, one of whom is an ordained minister; and they also have seven great-grandchildren.

When he was leaving Goldsboro to go to Murfreesboro, his daughter Bonnie recalls his being asked by a visiting revivalist why he was going to Murfreesboro, when he could go anywhere, to a big church in a big city, and he replied, “I am called to Murfreesboro.”